Presented by Jessica Sorci, LMFT and Rebecca Geshuri, LMFT
Includes 3 CE credits for LMFTs, LPCCs, LEPs and LCSWs.
This event will be online only. A recording will be made available to all registrants for 3 months. For those who can't attend live, CE credit is available by watching the recording and passing a test.
Much of what constitutes maternal depression and anxiety throughout the long span of motherhood (not just postpartum), are feelings and beliefs surrounding failure. Mothers are highly motivated to be “good moms” and to avoid being “bad moms,” and while this notion may strike you as over-simplified and unduly black and white, our research and clinical experience validate its ubiquitous presence in moms who feel miserable. By applying our knowledge of Internal Family Systems, specifically the nature and intentions of common “Mom Parts,” we have created the Good Mom/Bad Mom Loop, an original concept that illustrates a feedback loop common in and particular to motherhood.
The Good Mom/Bad Mom Loop is initiated and led by mom’s parts, specifically mom’s parts that don’t believe or trust that she has what it takes to mother well. Those parts jump into action, both defensive and offensive, to try to keep her on task and to avoid specific kinds of failure. As these protective parts take on leadership roles in moms’ system, they do so from a position of fear and mistrust, requiring her to manage or inhibit other parts. And these other parts, who are generally associated with moms’ self-interest, begin to grumble. Tensions escalate internally resulting in an outburst or an inburst of words and actions that impact mom’s close relationships and are often felt as deeply regrettable. Moms struggle to break out of this cycle of intense inner management, suppression, reactivity and shame and miss out on the experience of mothering from an authentic, relaxed and confident place.
Join Jessica Sorci, LMFT, PMH-C and Rebecca Geshuri, LMFT, PMH-C, both Certified Internal Family Systems Therapists for a 3 hour experiential & educational workshop designed to offer an application of Internal Family Systems, specific to motherhood, with a focus on parts that cycle together around juggling the competing needs of mothers and their children.
Program Goals
The goal of this experiential workshop is to integrate an expanded awareness of “parts” into treatment of maternal depression and anxiety. The Good Mom/Bad Mom Loop describes a parts-driven cycle established early in motherhood, when moms’ inner systems naturally divide into polarized teams of protector parts that unwittingly perpetuate ongoing mental health challenges. By implementing Internal Family Systems concepts, participants will be able to identify components of the client’s (and the therapist’s own) inner system that feed such cycles, and interact with those parts in meaningful, healing ways, allowing for novel, healthy outcomes. Participants will learn about “Self-led mothering” and be given a more compassionate and empowered perspective for understanding common reactive and “scary” protectors in moms, including rage, panic, perfectionism and regret. This workshop is excerpted from the larger Mothercentric™️ Approach training, that depathologizes mental health struggles of moms and offers powerful new ways of working with “Mom Parts.”
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course participants will be able to:
1. Name the so-called “part” of moms’ inner systems that is the driving force of the Good Mom/Bad Mom Loop.
2. Identify the two teams that moms’ systems split into in early motherhood, in an effort to meet physical, spiritual and emotional needs.
3. Articulate at least three of the components of the Good Mom/Bad Mom Loop.
About the Presenters
Rebecca Geshuri (left) and Jessica Sorci are both Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists, Certified Internal Family Systems Therapists and also Perinatal Mental Health Certified. As Co-Founders of Family Tree Wellness in Silicon Valley, California, Rebecca and Jessica lead their one-of-a-kind IFS-informed group psychotherapy practice that provides counseling, education and support for people who are in the family building phase of life. They are wildly enthusiastic about supporting other therapists who want to deepen their knowledge and skill with using IFS and working in Reproductive Mental Health. Their comprehensive Mothercentric Approach is being integrated into a book called MOM PARTS, and is currently being offered annually, alongside Mom Parts Salons and a Mothercentric Continuum consultation group. Most importantly, Rebecca and Jessica are mothers who bring their own personal experiences with grief and growing, mixed with creative expression and spirituality to their work. Their goal is nothing short of healing humanity's intergenerational burdens.
This is an intermediate level course.
TARGET AUDIENCE: LCSWs, LMFTs, LPCCs, LEPs
If you miss any of the presentation, you will not be eligible for the CEUs. This course meets the qualifications of 3 continuing education credits for LMFTs, LPCCs, LEPs and/or LCSWs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. SCV-CAMFT is a CAMFT-approved continuing education provider (CEPA 052466).
The views expressed in presentations made at SCV-CAMFT meetings or events are those of the speaker and not, necessarily, of SCV-CAMFT. Presentations at SCV-CAMFT events do not constitute an endorsement of the vendor or speaker's views, products or services.
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